Cal Sports: Cal Suspends Spring Football at Least Until March 30; All Sports Events Suspended Until Further Notice

How long will this situation continue?

Cal announced Thursday that it has supended all Cal athletic events until furter notice, in respone to COVID-19, also known at the novel coronavirus.

This includes the suspension of Cal spring football. The Bears have had four days of spring ball, and are scheduled to have 11 more. This means the Bears will be behind as they try to install the new offense being put in by new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave.

Spring football will be suspended until at least March 30, at which time further determinations will be made.

To help protect at-risk populations and lessen the spread of the rapidly evolving coronavirus situation, Cal Football will be suspending practice until at least March 30.

🗞 | https://t.co/ltxvknhxxH pic.twitter.com/ENVXf0cf0S

— Cal Football (@CalFootball) March 13, 2020

The Pac-12, like most other major conferences, is suspending recruiting visits until further notice, according to the Oregonian:

Source: Pac-12 Conference to halt official, unofficial recruiting visits due to coronavirus fears https://t.co/FNP709T1G9

— Oregonian HS Sports (@hssports_olive) March 12, 2020

Cal will follow those guidelines and will stop all official and unofficial recruiting visits, a policy that presumably will be reassessed on March 30. For now, Cal will halt all on-campus and off-campus recruiting activity.

Virtually all other Division I colleges are suspending spring practie as well, so Cal will be at no disadvantage other than its inability to install the offense.

Presumably Cal's Pro Day, where Cal athletes run through tests for NFL scouts to help improve their draft position, is also canceled. It was scheduled for March 20.

(NCAA basketball tournament is canceled.)

Here is the latest full Cal statement, issued at around 6 p.m. Thursday:

To help protect at-risk populations and lessen the spread of the rapidly evolving coronavirus situation, all Cal Athletics competitions are canceled through the remainder of the spring term. 

Earlier today, the NCAA announced that all winter and pring championships have been canceled, and the Pac-12 announced that all Pac-12 sport competitions and championships are canceled until further notice.

The Pac-12 decision impacts all regular-season events – both conference and non-conference contests – as well as all Pac-12 postseason championships. Cal will apply this guidance for all sports, including those that do not compete in the Pac-12. In addition, Cal Athletics is taking the following measures through at least March 30, at which point these guidelines will be re-assessed:

---Suspending all on-campus and off-campus recruiting activities

---Suspending all clinics and camps

---Suspending practices, including spring football

---Encouraging all staff to work remotely, if possible

There is no higher priority than the health and well-being of our student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans," Director of Athletics said. "We are in a rapidly changing situation that is unprecedented in our lifetimes, and I feel for all of our student-athletes, particularly our seniors, as we try to manage through this extraordinary time. We don't know what's going to happen next, so we need to remain diligent and flexible as the situation evolves. We will continue to adjust accordingly and make decisions with the best information available from medical experts, as well as from campus, conference and national leaders.

Fans who have pre-purchased tickets to events through March 29 may contact the Cal Athletic Ticket Office with questions by calling (800) GO BEARS (462-3277) and pressing option 3. Options for fans include:

--Exchanging tickets to a future Cal Athletics event in the same sport at no additional charge;

--Consider donating ticket(s) for a future Cal Athletics event to a local non-profit organization of your choice;

--Request a refund for events occurring between now and March 29, 2020

The Cal Athletic Ticket Office is open 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

On Wednesday, Cal football coach Justin Wilcox noted that nothing in the spring football schedule had changed. That changed Thursday, when Cal announced all practices, including spring football, have been suspended.